Ivy Pepper
Ivy Pepper is a major antagonist in the television series Gotham. She is a supporting character in Seasons 1 and 2, a supporting antagonist of Season 3, one of the main antagonists of Season 4, and a supporting antagonist in Season 5. She is portrayed by Clare Foley during the first, second and third seasons, Maggie Geha during the third and fourth seasons and Peyton List during the fourth and fifth seasons. Biography Ivy is introduced in the first episode "Pilot", living with her parents Mario and Alice Pepper. After Mario, a criminal who is set up for the Wayne murders, is shot by GCPD Detective Bullock and her mother cuts her wrists herself, Ivy becomes an orphan and is forced to live on the street - becoming one of the many street urchins of Gotham City. She befriends another homeless girl. Selina Kyle, but after following Selina one day, she is captured by the monster group of Fish Mooney. One of the monsters attempts to kill her by using his ability of aging people to death but Ivy escapes. Despite surviving, the contact with the monster aged her into a 19-year old woman and changed her behavior and attitude in general. Becoming an Orphan Ivy resides in Gotham City with her parents Mario and Alice Pepper, the former whom is a criminal, mentally unstable and abusive. Ivy answered the door one day to a detective Jim Gordon whom arrived with his partner Harvey Bullock as they were looking for her father in relation to his possible involvement in the killings of Thomas and Martha Wayne. When Ivy answered the door to the detectives she is visibly scared, and when Gordon asks her about her father she says that he is mean. Mario comes to the door and allows the detectives in. Ivy strokes her plants while Mario is being questioned, and he later makes a run for it by escaping out the window when the two detectives wish to search the premises for any evidence. He is subsequently shot dead by Bullock after attempting to kill Gordon with a knife. What appeared to be Martha Wayne's necklace is recovered, which leads to Mario being framed for the murders and the case closed. Despite his abusiveness, Ivy and her mother resent the police for his murder and set up. When Gordon begins to suspect Mario isn't the killer he arrives at the home where Ivy angrily refers to the police as "bastards". During this visit Gordon is informed by Alice that despite Mario being a violent person, he never killed anyone. Ivy becomes orphaned when her mother commits suicide following the death of her father. She is taken into care and fostered in which her new parents rename her Pamela. She eventually runs away from them, choosing to live on the streets. Life on the Streets Ivy is at The Flea when Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne arrive, with the latter and Ivy being introduced for the first time. Bruce apologises for what happened to her father, but Ivy (appearing to be losing it) says it isn't his fault her father is dead and begins acting strange, even causing Selina to be unnerved. Despite her father being killed and set up for killing Bruce's parents, she doesn't show any contempt towards him, and even notes that Bruce is cute. Selina quickly ushers Bruce away from Ivy, advising him not to look back. Ivy falls sick and is found sleeping in a box in the rain by Selina. Selina takes her to Barbara Kean's penthouse as Barbara is gone and Gordon has moved out. Ivy answers the phone when Barbara calls, and when she asks about Gordon Ivy lies saying that she is a friend of him. Believing that the girl on the other end is a lover of Gordon's, Barbara angrily hangs up the phone, much to the amusement of Ivy. Ivy encounters Bruce and his guardian Alfred Pennyworth as they search the streets for Selina. Bruce requests Ivy to send a message to Selina for her, which she agrees to for a payment, which Bruce orders Alfred to do. Ivy and Selina are later discovered by Barbara, and after overcoming her own surprise, Barbara eventually sits with the two in the living room. Ivy and Selina later have outfits modeled by Barbara, while they judge them. Ivy is questioned by Harvey Bullock on the location of Selina, who was committing robberies with Bridgit Pike. Ivy was later employed by Butch Gilzean's nephew Sonny Gilzean to grow his "magic mushrooms." She puts the mushrooms into the gang's lunch so that Selina and Bruce could steal their money. While waiting for Selina at the pigeon coop where Bridgit Pike feeds them, Bruce thought Selina was returning only to encounter Ivy who was surprised that Bruce is living at Wayne Manor again. This causes Bruce to suspect that Selina Kyle hasn't returned from Arkham Asylum yet. 6 months later, Ivy questioned Selina about the type of people she was being involved with. Selina told her that they were scary people and won't let her come along for her own good. Selina orders Ivy to look after the pigeon coop while she is gone, and departs leaving Ivy on her own. Just thereafter, Ivy is approached by what appears to be Bruce Wayne. However, he acts weird and questions Ivy about Selina. Believing this boy is Bruce, she asks him what has happened to him (due to his unkempt appearance and long hair). When the confused boy asks that if she knows him, she says she knows Bruce Wayne, leading to the boy to forcefully grab her demanding who he is. Terrified, Ivy shakes him off and makes a run for it. She arrives at a location where Selina is hanging out and discovers she is afflicted with a resurrected Fish Mooney who has gathered the escapees from the research facility Indian Hill to create a new incarnation of her gang. Nancy brings Ivy to Fish who wants to know who else Ivy has told about them. Selina tries to defuse the situation by saying Ivy is with her and doesn't know anything or has told anyone, but Ivy causes more harm than good by threatening to tell on Fish. Fish orders one of her underlings Marv to use his ability of aging people to death to kill Ivy. Ivy manages to get away from Nancy and runs off where she is pursued. She comes across a hole in the ground leading to a water drain. Selina tries to help her, but is held back. Marv sneaks up on Ivy and briefly grabs her, before she falls down the hole and is swept away by the water's current, much to the distress of Selina. Reincarnation An unspecified amount of time later, Ivy emerges from the river. Upon making her way to a truck, Ivy sees her reflection in the mirror realizing that she is now a fully grown woman and has outgrown her clothes. When a construction worker named Nick comes across the barefoot girl, he invites Ivy home to help her out. At Nick's house, Ivy drinks some water and then give the rest on a dying plant. While stating her history and how she "grew", Ivy was displeased that Nick threw out one of his plants. Later that night, Ivy changes into the clothes of Nick's ex-wife and had knocked Nick out using the plant he threw in the trash. Selina mentioned to Bruce and Gordon about what happened to Ivy and states that she is still "missing". Some time later, she attended the Sirens nightclub party to celebrate Oswald Cobblepot winning the election for mayor. She grabbed Selina by the hand when she caught her stealing and laughed at the fact that Selina did not recognize her. As Ivy Pepper didn't want to reveal her identity yet, she told Selina to continue taking wallets. Selina did get suspicious about her. Ivy later witnessed the fight at the club between Butch and Cobblepot and began smiling when things became violent. Ivy later seduces a rich man named Anton where she uses a special perfume to control him into opening the vault. Upon knocking out Anton with a vase, Ivy enter the vault where she steals a green necklace. Anton recovers and tries to choke Ivy only for her to break free and get away as he asked if she is with "them." Ivy later reveals herself to Selina at her squat while she was feeding her cats. Bruce was later called in as Selina told him that she should've suspected that Marv did that to her. Ivy apologizes for not telling Selina that she is alive. Selina is told by Ivy that she has a way to get people to give her what she want. Ivy then comes clean stating that she had stolen from a rich man. Bruce breaks up the conversation stating that he hears something. The three of them start making a run from their attackers led by Luka Volk. Selina, Bruce, and Ivy go on the run as Ivy claims that claimed it. Bruce offers to buy the necklace from Ivy for a reward. Ivy accompanies Bruce and Selina to Anton's house and finds him dead. The three of them find a hidden key in the necklace. Bruce suggests to Selina and Ivy that they retreat to his house. At Wayne Manor, Bruce tells Ivy and Selina that he will have Alfred make up beds for both of them. When Ivy states that she doesn't want to come between Selina and her boyfriend, Selina states that she is not his girlfriend. Ivy uses her perfume to manipulate Alfred into giving her the security code to Wayne Manor. She is later captured by Luka, Jacob, and Dmitry of the Whisper Gang to use as leverage to get the key back from Bruce and Selina. She is released when Bruce gives them the key and learns that it is used to unlock a weapon Luka believes can help destroy the Court of Owls. Bruce then agrees to help them secure the second key they require. Teaming up with Penguin After Mayor Oswald Cobblepot was shot and thrown off a pier into the harbor by his former friend Edward Nygma, Ivy retrieved him and brought him back to her plant filled home, unknown to the citizens of Gotham, the police and even Nygma himself who believed he had truly killed his old ally. After Cobblepot awoke from his sleep Ivy informed him that he had been out for hours. Cobblepot informs her that he has someone to kill. She later shows Oswald around her newfound home, an abandoned mansion estate outside of Gotham, throughout which she has cultivated a lush indoor garden in the dead of winter. She agrees to contact Gabe on Oswald’s request and they meet him together in her solarium. She expresses an instant mistrust and warns Oswald that she ought to use her pheromone perfume to ascertain Gabe’s loyalty. Oswald ignores her advice and mocks her assumption of friendship, calling her a ‘freak’, after which she storms out and leaves them alone. Her suspicion is proven correct when Gabe takes advantage of the opportunity to knock Oswald unconscious. She remains hidden on the grounds of the estate, however, to spy on Gabe’s arriving henchmen. She is eventually caught and tied up alongside Oswald where she dismisses his suggestion that she’s in any actual danger. After being asked to explain her confidence, she angrily declares that she could save them both if only Oswald would agree to show her some kindness. He agrees to these terms and she coyly invites a henchman’s attention. She entices him to lean in close enough to catch the scent of her perfume. With him under her control, she gleefully orders him to kill the remaining henchmen and spare Gabe for Oswald. She later holds Gabe at gunpoint while Oswald questions him. She makes good on her promise to force Gabe to admit his true loyalties, who admits he’s never respected Oswald and thinks of him also as a ‘freak’. Oswald murders Gabe with one of Ivy’s garden forks. They bury Gabe and the rest of the henchmen in her flower bed, where vines are seen twining preternaturally in and around Gabe’s open wounds. When Oswald apologizes for his behavior, she admits that people’s opinion of her can upset her deeply and they bond over this similarity. In an effort to console him she offers to share what she knows of the Indian Hill monsters, and suggests they band together to amass a whole ‘army of freaks’. Ivy helps Oswald track down Victor Fries, who is still angry at Oswald for running him out of Gotham. Oswald offers to help Victor reverse his condition, so Victor agrees to help Oswald. They then look for Bridgit Pike, who is working in a welding factory. After Ivy hear how Bridgit's boss talks to her, she convinces her to embrace what she has become, and Bridgit goes with them. They hole up in Oswald's mansion, and Ivy breaks up a fight between Victor and Bridgit, saying they are on the same team and calling them a family. Ivy sees Nygma on the news, and Oswald tells the group to rest up as tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Ivy goes to see Tabitha Galavan, looking for Selina. Tabitha tells Ivy to try Gotham General, saying she heard Selina fell out of a window. Ivy finds Selina in the ICU, and a doctor tells her she can't be in there. Ivy used her perfume to make the doctor tell her about Selina's condition. The doctor believes Selina won't come out of her coma, and a furious Ivy tells her to leave. Ivy tells Selina that the doctor's don't know her like Ivy knows her and vows to help her. Ivy filled the room with various plants, and Selina eventually woke up. Ivy hugged her, but Selina started to get up and told Ivy she had to go to Wayne Manor to kill someone. A New Path Months after the Tetch virus outbreak, Ivy continued assisting Penguin in building his new club, the Iceberg Lounge. However, she also became disrespected by Penguin and not taken seriously in the criminal underworld. After betraying Penguin on the night of his new club's opening and leaving his crime family, she later turned to Selina Kyle and Tabitha Galavan to join them in their supposed team-up with Barbara Kean. However, after being shunned by both of them, Ivy went to a potions store and demanded some "ancient potions" made by shamans. After the store owner refuses, Ivy, claiming that she had enough of playing nice, threw him aside and took the potions by force, only for her face slowly start to change instantly. Reborn Several months after taking the drugs, Ivy has concealed in a cocoon surrounded by ivy plants at the drugs store. As three thugs tried to raid it, one of them tried to touch it and she woke up tearing out of the cocoon. After one of them asked her name, she states that her name "was Ivy". When the same thug tried to make a move on her, she coldly attacked him and unintentionally poisoned him, surprising herself with her new powers whilst scaring off the other two thugs. Ivy examined herself in a hanging mirror calling her change 'extraordinary'. After a bomb goes off in the Narrows, Ivy stepped outside wearing a version of her old green striped sweater and saw everyone scared and running out of another building, only giving a wickedly sinister smirk. Ivy was walking through the streets of the Narrows and became distraught with gas polluting the environment killing plants on the street. As a rich couple left their apartment in a taxi, Ivy secretly broke into their home, stole one of their dresses, got some food out of the food and watched TV, still unhappy with the news of environmental destruction. Noticing a commercial for the Sirens Nightclub with Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan and Selina Kyle, she remembered them and how she still hated them. Forming an Alliance Ivy later went to the Sirens Nightclub with the women taking note of her while men were immediately drawn to the mysterious woman causing a fight to erupt. Tabitha broke the fight up and ordered Ivy to leave, to which she remarks that Tabitha is being rude, but has always been. While leaving she waves to Selina realizing who she really is. Selina followed Ivy to her hideout where she revealed her new self and demonstrated her newfound powers by scratching Selina's hand infecting her with the poison that flows through her veins. Ivy than gave her a vial containing the antidote to counter the toxin and Selina drank it curing herself. Frightened by her, Selina calls her "crazy" insulting Ivy declaring that she has been reborn and will never be underestimated or ignored again. Ivy took Selina's hand wanting to repay her for all the times that she's helped her by making Gotham their bitch. Terrorizing Gotham Ivy and Selina went to a house belonging to a Wayne Industries scientist's named Roland Charles with his family. Ringing the doorbell, Ivy hypnotized Mrs. Charles with her new hypnotic perfume and the wife lead them into the dining room where Roland was having dinner with their two children. Using her perfume, Ivy placed the rest under her control then made them freeze in position. When Selina went upstairs to rob the place, Ivy left alone with Roland revealed that she knew what he does for a living, “torturing” plants in the name of science for Wayne Enterprises. Ivy grabbed a briefcase asking Roland if if he knows how the plants felt. Ivy then scratched him, infecting him with her Toxin and causing vines to sprout out of his mouth. Selina then returned and was horrified at what Ivy done and both left leaving his family to watch him die. Ivy returned to her lair looking over Charles' files telling Selina that Roland had it coming. Ivy discovered he was working on something called "Project M" and wanted to know everything about it. Selina, disgusted by the murder, abandoned Ivy leaving her alone with her plants. Ivy told them she was fine by herself and was ready to show everyone how strong she was now before placing some lipstick on herself. Ivy later went to Wayne Manor and encountered Bruce who was hung over. She told him she was there to speak for those who couldn't speak for themselves. Ivy then called him Billionaire Boy and Bruce realized who she was before Ivy kissed him with her hypnotic lipstick. Ivy's obsession with plants and the fact that Wayne Enterprises was conducting "Project M," which involved the experimentation and deaths of several plants, ultimately led to her hypnotizing Bruce and forcing him to tell her everything about the project before poisoning him to give him a slow and painful death. Leaving him to die, Ivy left to find the location of the project. Ivy arrived in the GCPD placing everyone under her control before entering the medical examiner's lab where she met Lucius Fox where he was working on Roland Charles' body. Ivy asked him Lucius about Project M telling him that Bruce revealed everything about it besides the location. Ivy made Lucius smell her perfume placing him under her control. Lucius then told Ivy he would take her to the location but first Ivy wanted to be told she was beautiful which Lucius obliged. Abducting Lucius Fox, Ivy was taken to a greenhouse where Project M was. The project was a glass full of green liquid known as Lazarus Water. Lucius inquired to Ivy what she would do with the liquid and responded she was going to make miracles happen. When Jim Gordon caught up with Ivy, he reluctantly let her go in order to keep Lucius from being infected and even left an antidote for the infection that is happening to Bruce in Lucius' pocket. Ivy escaped with the Lazarus Water and Gordon rushed to save Bruce. Back at her lair, Ivy began her experiment. Slicing her hand, Ivy poured some blood and took a few drops of Lazarus Water combining both in some soil where a plant with a strange red flower sprouted to life. When the original owners arrived, Ivy tested the product on them, blowing the toxin from the flower on them, which caused them to die upon flowers growing from the insides of their bodies. Ivy called the flowers friends and said they were beautiful. Tangled Ivy Ivy arrived at a bar looking for Harvey Bullock but was out sick. She decided to leave a message in the form of her mutated flower. With their blood they would be the message and Ivy she used her plants to hypnotize the bystanders by blowing her poisonous spores at them. Lucius Fox later examined the crime scene and found that the plants on the victims at the bar were more aggressive than the last ones, indicating Ivy was using the Lazarus Water to increase the potency of the plants. When Jim arrived, he remembered that Harvey killed Ivy's father. At Bullock's apartment, the GCPD watched a news report of Ivy making a broadcasting message to the citizens of Gotham throughout the TV to show her powers. Ivy stated humans bring pain to plants and everyone she's known has only hurt or betrayed her and always known what she had to do, but now she has the power. Ivy showed more victims with plants surrounding their bodies and stated she's giving Gotham back to the plants starting with the people that hurt her. Gordon and Bullock later found Ivy in a warehouse but she used her powers on Bullock placing him under her control. Personality Old Personality Not much is known about her personality. However, according to Selina, Ivy is creepy; nobody would even talk to her, and her only friend is Selina Kyle. When she meets Bruce Wayne, she does not blame his parents’ death for causing the death of her father, and takes interest in the former, notes that Bruce is cute. Ivy is also shown to have a sense of humor; she answers the phone when Barbara calls, and when she asks about Jim Gordon, Ivy lies saying that she is a friend of his; this causes Barbara to incorrectly believing that the girl on the other end is a lover of Jim's, Barbara angrily hangs up the phone (although Ivy obviously meant no harm). Ivy is loyal and cares about friends, as she Ivy questioned Selina about the type of people she was being involved with. However this changes when Ivy is aged into adulthood by Marv, as she takes pleasure in Selina not recognizing her as Ivy during an encounter at The Sirens nightclub, and even mockingly tells Selina to run along and "keep stealing wallets". But she later tells Selina who she is and apologizes to her. Despite her growth spurt into adulthood, Ivy still showed signs of a childlike nature and immaturity, probably due to not having a natural progression growing up. When she teams up with Oswald Cobblepot to create themselves a gang of "freaks", she sees the union as a big happy family. On a more comical note, Ivy was shown to be very gluttonous. In the 9th episode of the third season, she ate all of Selina's food and then asking for more food. Even before that, she complained a lot to Selina about "starving". New Personality Due to being disrespected, talked down to and not taken seriously by everyone (including Selina), Ivy became more violent as she was willing to do whatever it took to be respected in the criminal underworld, no longer valuing the risks of taking secret potions to get "stronger". After being transformed by the potions and gaining a new appearance and also powers, Ivy no longer identified as "Ivy Pepper" as she had been "reborn". Remembering some memories of her old life of being disrespected, Ivy became vindictive towards everyone she ever knew. As a result, Ivy became more cold-hearted, sadistic, ruthless, seductive and emotionless, as she demonstrated twice when two men fought over her while she watched on in amusement, and that she didn't care for Selina's suffering when demonstrating her toxic powers on her. However, she has shown some traits of her old self, as she was physically distraught by humanity's lack of respect for the environment. She was also honorable as she was willing to cure Selina of her poison and align with her, declaring that they make Gotham their "bitch". Powers and Abilities Powers *'Plant Communication': After drastically aging, Ivy has seemingly gained the power to communicate with plants or sense what other plants are feeling. *'Mutated Physiology': After consuming extremely potent mutagenic chemical compounds, Ivy has gained superhuman powers. **'Poison Secretion:' Ivy now possesses the ability to poison others at will by simply scratching them. This poison is inhuman in its nature as it transforms people into hosts for plants, ironically resembling poison ivy, which start growing slowly inside them from a cellular level. Abilities *'Botanist': Ivy possesses an advanced knowledge of plant life, identifying and growing different breeds. *'Toxicology': By extracting materials from her plants, she is able to create drugs or perfumes that serve as powerful hallucinogenics and mind altering agents. *'Hypnotism': When people smell a perfume she has crafted, they fall under her hypnotic control. Quotes Appearances Season 1 *''Pilot'' *''Lovecraft'' *''Rogues' Gallery'' *''Welcome Back, Jim Gordon'' *''The Blind Fortune Teller'' *''Red Hood'' Season 2 *''Rise of the Villains : By Fire'' *''Wrath of the Villains: Mad Grey Dawn'' *''Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles'' Season 3 *''Mad City: Better to Reign in Hell'' *''Mad City: Burn the Witch'' *''Mad City: Anything For You'' *''Mad City: The Executioner'' *''Mad City: Time Bomb'' *''Heroes Rise: How the Riddler Got His Name'' *''Heroes Rise: These Delicate and Dark Obsessions'' *''Heroes Rise: The Primal Riddle'' *''Heroes Rise: Light the Wick'' *''Heroes Rise: Pretty Hate Machine'' *''Heroes Rise: Heavydirtysoul'' Season 4 *''A Dark Knight: Pax Penguina'' *''A Dark Knight: The Fear Reaper'' *''A Dark Knight: Pieces of a Broken Mirror'' *''A Dark Knight: A Beautiful Darkness'' *''A Dark Knight: Reunion'' Season 5 *''Legend of the Dark Knight: Trespassers'' Trivia *The character is the show's version of the character Poison Ivy, however unlike her comic counterpart her real name is given as Ivy Pepper rather than Pamela Isley like in the comics. However it is revealed that her foster family changed her name to Pamela, although she still goes by the name Ivy. *The first episode "Pilot" foreshadows her future of Poison Ivy by showing her tending to plants. *She is a vegan. *While Ivy has been villainous throughout the series, the promo for "Heroes Rise: The Primal Riddle" officially gives her her villain status and she is described as supervillain on the backside of the DVD release. *Ivy was a recurring character in Season 1 and 2 and a main character in Season 3. She returned to recurring status for Season 4 and is currently a guest-star in Season 5. *Ivy's adoptive parents renamed her Pamela. It is unclear if they were the Isley family or if that surname will come into play later. *Ivy is one of the least malicious villains in the series. However, this changes when Ivy mutates and becomes more manipulative and vicious. *According to producer John Stephens, Ivy will become more of her Poison Ivy persona in Season 4. This was proven correct after Ivy takes chemicals and becomes a murderer/terrorist. *Ivy seems to have a hyperactive metabolism, which would explain her constant bouts of gluttony. *Ivy was the main antagonist of the first three episodes of the second half of Season 4. Navigation Category:Female Category:Juvenile Delinquents Category:Gotham Villains Category:DC Villains Category:TV Show Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Mentally Ill Category:Teenagers Category:Femme Fatale Category:Tragic Category:Kids Category:Evil Vs. 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